AFAC announces Cinema Grant Program

Deadline: 4-Jul-23

The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture – AFAC is accepting applications for the Cinema Grant Program to support all kinds of fiction film projects.

The Cinema program welcomes submissions of short and medium-length narrative films in production and post-production, as well as feature narratives that are in development, production, or post-production phases.

Funding Information

• The program provides annual grants up to USD 10,000 for development grants, up to USD 50,000 for production grants for feature-length and USD 20,000 for short and medium-length, and up to USD 25,000 for post-production grants for feature-length, and USD 10,000 for short and medium-length films.

Place and Duration

• AFAC will not provide support retroactively to projects that have already been completed.
• For projects that have already started, AFAC will cover the expenses starting from the signature of the contract, if the project is selected.
• Projects may be implemented anywhere as long as the applicant fulfills the mentioned eligibility criteria. The project’s timeframe should not exceed 24 months.

Eligible Expenses

• AFAC only covers project-related expenses (including director’s and producer’s fees up to 30% of the total grant amount). The running operating costs or the purchase of equipment can not be covered by the grant.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Cinema program is open to applications from Arab directors and producers living in the Arab region or the diaspora. A non-Arab producer can apply for a grant provided that the film director is Arab. It is highly recommended that film projects applying to the production and post-production grants have producers attached to them.
• Project applications are accepted irrespective of age, years of experience, country of residence, ethnicity, gender, or religion.
• A film producer is eligible to apply with a maximum of two projects per category per cycle, provided the two projects are not attached to the same director.

Ineligible Candidates

• AFAC will not consider applications submitted by:
  • Members of the AFAC board of trustees, their business partners, or family members.
  • AFAC staff members, their business partners, or family members.
  • Members of the current year’s reader and juror committees.
  • Applicants with a current open grant.
  • Recipients of grants in two consecutive years will not be eligible to apply for the next two consecutive years. For example, if you received a grant in 2020 and another one in 2021, you will only be eligible to re-apply in 2024.
  • Film producers who have an open grant can apply with another project. If they have two open grants, they are not eligible to apply before the completion of one of the projects.
  • A director who already has an open grant from AFAC (regardless of whether the contract is in their name or the producer’s name).
  • Each director may only submit one application in the same category (development, production, post-production).
  • If a director has an application that is in process, they cannot submit another application in another category until the result of the current application in process is announced.
  • If a grantee has received two grants – one for development and one for production for the same film project – they cannot apply for post-production.

For more information, visit AFAC.